Saving Lives
Changing Lives

Once enjoying peace and security, Burkina Faso’s population has seen its living conditions drastically deteriorate since 2019 due to the proliferation of armed groups. Located in Western Africa within the Sahel region, the country grapples with a multidimensional crisis driven by armed conflict, political instability, widespread poverty, and climate change. Over 40 percent of the population live below the national poverty line, while social protection coverage is limited. Women and girls are disproportionately affected, facing higher risks of hunger, malnutrition, gender-based violence, exploitation, and the denial of resources and opportunities.

The ongoing conflict has endangered people’s lives and livelihoods. Violence and insecurity have forced nearly 1,000 health facilities to close or reduce services to a minimum, while over 5,300 schools – comprising 20 percent of the country’s educational structures – have shut down. The displacement crisis, in recent years one of the fastest growing in the world, is also compounding the socioeconomic challenges in host communities, exacerbating competition over access to scarce resources such as land.

While agriculture is a vital sector that employs 80 percent of the population, nearly all arable land is rain-fed, increasing the sector’s vulnerability to climate change. Moreover, smallholder farmers often lack access to markets, quality agricultural inputs and advanced farming techniques.

Over the past years, the prolonged crisis has driven hunger and malnutrition to unprecedented levels. Notably, the number of people facing acute food insecurity during the annual lean seasons has risen from nearly 700,000 in 2019 to 2.7 million in 2024. Moderate and severe forms of acute malnutrition remain prevalent among young children.

The World Food Programme (WFP) supports the Government through life-saving assistance as well as measures including preventing and treating malnutrition, building the resilience of smallholder farmers, and providing common services to humanitarian partners.

However, access constraints remain a significant challenge in many parts of the country, hindering WFP’s and humanitarian responders' ability to reach people in need and sustain assistance at the right scale and frequency.

Show more

What the World Food Programme is doing in Burkina Faso

Crisis response
WFP provides emergency food and nutrition assistance to crisis-affected women, men and young children. Emergency response activities include general food distributions to acutely food-insecure people (including internally displaced persons, refugees and host communities).
School meals
As part of its school-based programmes, WFP provides on-site nutritious breakfasts and lunches to children in 1,000 schools, including those with large numbers of internally displaced children. Monthly, family take-home rations are provided to schoolgirls attending the last two years of their primary education, who reach the required attendance during the month. WFP also assists schools in transitioning to a home-grown school feeding model, where canteens are supplied with locally grown, nutritious and diversified food produced by smallholder farmers.
Nutrition
WFP implements nutrition programmes to address wasting (low weight for height), stunting (impaired development due to malnutrition) and micronutrient deficiencies. This includes specialized nutritious food to prevent and treat malnutrition among children aged 6-59 months, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls. WFP also promotes good nutrition and hygiene practices and supports mothers' groups in raising awareness about appropriate infant and young child feeding practices. Additionally, WFP aims to increase the availability and affordability of nutritious foods by supporting the local production of fortified infant flour.
Resilience building
WFP builds the resilience of vulnerable households and communities to better withstand shocks and stressors, such as the impact of the climate crisis. These initiatives involve people restoring degraded land, developing lowland for rice production, producing organic fertilizers and building reservoirs for irrigation and boreholes to extract groundwater. The assets created and restored contribute to reducing community tensions over natural resources, thereby fostering social cohesion. WFP assists smallholder farmers by providing training, agricultural inputs, tools and equipment to improve agricultural productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, address crop contamination, and facilitate access to markets and climate insurance.
Capacity strengthening
WFP has been strengthening the capacities of national institutions, particularly the National Council for Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation (CONASUR) and the National Food Security Stock Management Company (SONAGESS). This includes increasing storage capacities, providing laboratory equipment and conducting training on logistics, food handling, storage, pest control, food safety and quality assurance. Additionally, WFP provides technical support to the country’s social protection system, including the national social protection strategy, the national social protection programme, and the expansion of the single social registry.
Common services
WFP plays a crucial role in the broader humanitarian response through the WFP-managed United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, as well as the WFP-led Logistics Cluster and Information Technology Common Service sector.

Publications

Show more

In focus

Show more

Partners and Donors

Achieving Zero Hunger is the work of many. Our work in Burkina Faso is made possible by the support and collaboration of our partners and donors, including:
Canada Denmark European Commission France Germany

Operations in Burkina Faso

View all operations

Contacts

Office

66, Angle Av. Georges Konseiga et Av.du Général Aboubacar S. Lamizana, 11 BP 1754 Ouagadougou 11, Burkina Faso
Ouagadougou
Burkina Faso

Phone
+226 25306077
Fax
+226 25313817
Email
WFP.Ouagadougou@wfp.org
For media inquiries
WFP.Ouagadougou@wfp.org
Social

Advanced search